Free Day
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: In which Paul wants to spend his free day relaxing by the pool. Only, it happens to be the same day both Vince and Steph decide that's just not allowed. - One-shot.


Paul felt pretty dang content that day as he stretched out in the chair by his pool, sunglasses on, enjoying the absolute nothing he had to do that entire day. His return was planned for two weeks, his rehab was long done, his body was back in fighting shape, and man, to just decompress then, in that moment, meant more than one could imagine.

It had bee beyond stressful. The entire thing. Blowing a quad wasn't something anyone could ever plan for and, even going through it once before, in no way was he prepared for it. For the surgery, sitting around after it with little to do, the intense physical therapy to get your mobility back on track, training day and night to get back into the ring as soon as possible.

Add onto that Steph having so much more to do than she did, back in '01, when they were hardly together and just feeling things out and she worked, yeah, but not as seriously as in '07. Nowhere near. Not to mention he wasn't a father that first time around and, honestly, still falling into place as one this most recent time. His six month old didn't understand that their already hectic life had just been thrown for a loop. All she knew was that she still expected every little thing she wanted and needed done, regardless of what her parents had going on. Middle of the night tears wouldn't come to an end just because he was hobbling around on crutches. Crying fits wouldn't fit around his rehab schedule and the even more random than his typical sleep pattern that accompanied it.

Babies had yet to adapt to the horrible world of quad surgery recovery.

But that just meant Paul had to do even more adjustment and figure out how to keep her as in his life as possible.

It would be easy, honestly, to just do what he needed to do, go workout or rehab when the time called for it, whether or not he'd seen his daughter that day at all be damned. Tell Steph he couldn't help her, in the middle of the night, that he hardly got sleep as it was, his leg was bothering him, and wasn't she really what Aurora wanted anyways?

Wasn't she?

That she needed a nanny, even when he wasn't busy with rehabbing (which took up a lot of time in the day, with most of what was left going to training) if Steph couldn't watch her, because was it fair that his currently bleak life was turned even bleaker by having to watch his kid in the scarce free time he had.

Paul knew a lotta guys like that. In the industry. He got it, really. It wasn't that they didn't _like_ their kid. Because everyone _likes_ their kid, right? It's your fucking kid. It's cool to hang around them when you have absolutely nothing else to do and they're not being complete shitheads (as a former kid, Paul can confirm, the majority of his adolescence was spent being a shithead). Then when they're being a complete shithead again and super annoying, you can just go back on the road or really anywhere, because you're only there half the time anyways, so it's really not that jarring, is it, when you're not around when you actually technically have the free time to be?

He figured babies were probably even worse. He probably understood that one even more. His baby was pretty tame, he'd been told, but even she could have periods where all she wanted to do was cry or whine or, oh, you don't feel well that day? Tough. Go change that disgusting diaper. Every few hours.

You know, if you were there. You could always just get out of that. At any point. Because you really did have to train. A lot. And eat. A lot. To keep up the appearance that, you know, got and kept you your job. Your wife can't even get on your back that much. What does she want? You to lose your spot, your standing, in the company because she's tired of taking care of the baby that she was so insistent that the two of you have in the first place?

Is that what she wants?

Paul just never felt that way though. Or, if he did, it was usually pretty fleeting and his answer wasn't to get ina huge fight with Steph and storm out, all pissed and not come home for a few days. He'd just go somewhere else in the house. Or to the backyard. Or just ignore the thought until it went away.

Maybe it was just because his dad never walked out on them. Ever. Not once. And his parents could argue or fight or whatever, but his dad would go to work and come home, every damn day, and put up with him being a shithead (again, he was nearly constantly) and… Paul just always wanted that.

Fine. Not the same type of work as his father, but the same basic concept. He could remember his father and mother coming home, dead tired for working all day, to help him with his homework or play with his toy cars and that was just what he always hoped he had.

Yeah, Aurora wasn't quite there yet (or getting to it any time soon), but damn if it wasn't nice to get back from the gym and just sit down in the middle of the living room to talk to her. Err, well, say some set words very slowly to her and hope that she said them back.

She was getting pretty good at mimicking.

And they really liked watching TV when Steph wasn't around to critique him on just how much they were watching. Kids shows weren't too bad. Just very colorful and repetitive and loud.

It reminded him of work.

Mostly though, having a baby kinda just made it...worth it.

He and Steph had some pretty lengthy conversations, right after his surgery, about just what he was rehabbing for. To return to the ring, a job up at the office or, even, just no job at all. The last one was always just tacked up there, with out any real thought, but the first two…

Saying it felt wrong, but life was so...depressing, when he was rehabbing. Err, well, doing it in the hopes to return to the ring. Or at least it had been in '01. Because you're trying so hard at something that you have no way of knowing if will turn out correctly. And that takes a lot out of you. Paul loved his family, more than anything, but wrestling…

Steph tried to make it clear that it was all his decision and, if he wanted to return to the ring, she knew that he could, but at the same time, he knew that it had hurt her, to see him tear his quad again. And he didn't like that. Hurting her. And it'd be different, their relationship, when he finally truly was finished with the ring, but it had to come sometime.

If she'd just flat out told him that she didn't want him to step foot in a ring again, he'd listen to her. But she knew that so she didn't.

It was all up to him.

Not that it was anything that had to be decided immediately. Relatively, but not until his leg had healed up from the surgery and it was time to start testing it. A lot of it depended on how much stress his quad would be able to take. His body. How much he was willing to put it through.

But also, a bit of pride was sandwiched in there.

Because it wasn't even six years since he been injured the first time. And he'd survived that. Come back from that. How embarrassing would it be to admit he'd let his body and health fall so low that he couldn't in '07?

Pride would still bother him though on days when rehabbing wasn't going well or he was tiring out too easily or his body wasn't looking the way that he wanted and he just wanted to sleep, but he had to get up and Steph was gone so much for work and she'd stay home more, if he just asked, she'd come back that very second, but fuck, how much of a dick would he be to do that to her when she sacrificed so much for him already?

That was when it was best to have a baby. Or his baby, rather. When he was lonely at home and the dog was being an asshole (their dog, Bluto, could be a bit of a shithead too at times) because all of a sudden, he and Paul weren't best buddies and he'd much rather sleep than play fetch, he didn't just have Steph there to lament to. He had his baby too.

She was very good at sitting his lap, playing with his fingers or chewing on one of his toys, while he decompressed with his headphones in, her being around more of a comfort than them actually interacting with one another was.

That's what she was providing him that day, as he sat there, out by the pool, in his swim trunks, dark sunglasses on, enjoying some of his last few work free days.

His baby was pretty content too and he only had to mess with her when she start whining for a new toy to chew on. He'd actually have to reach then, beside the lounge chair, to pick one up from the pile he'd made on the cement beneath them, but that was hardly anything at all when it came to keeping her entertained. Then there was the poor toy, about ten prior, that she'd thrown to the ground and had skidded across the ground into the pool, but it was a plastic one and wouldn't be completely destroyed by the water. Just sunk to the bottom where he'd have to go get it later.

Not then though.

Not when the two of them were so comfortable.

His eyes were shut, one headphone in, the other dangling on his chest while a finger was being munched on by his teething baby. One tooth was particularly sharp and would get him to snatch his hand away, at times, when she rolled it across his finger just right, but then she'd whine and he'd relent once more. She liked for him to hold the finger in her mouth as she shook around whatever toy she had and, well, it just worked for them.

It was during this sequence that it happened.

Aurora suddenly spit finger out and started making loud noises, causing Paul to open his eyes, thinking maybe one of the guys around front that were messing with his lawn needed something and were heading around back to ask it. But nope. Couldn't be that easy.

"What are you doing back here? It's the middle of the day!"

"That's why," Paul groaned as he saw Vince making his way over, "I'm back here. And how did you get back here? Why are you here? I'm busy."

"You're not busy. You're being a sack of shit." But he wasn't looking at him then. Instead, the man came right over to snatch Aurora right out of Paul's lap. "And the guys in the front told me you were back here. You know, I always cut my own damn grass, when I was your age."

"Great," his son-in-law replied as he pushed his sunglasses up, watching his baby snuggle immediately right into the man's arms. "You wanna cut mine too?"

"Your father's lazy, isn't he? Huh?" Vince wasn't too busy grinning at his granddaughter to make slights at the man. Good to know. "Think he'd be getting ready to come back to work. Wouldn't you?"

"You know, you're not my boss for another thirteen days or so," Paul reminded him as, finally finished making faces at Aurora, Vince's eyes turned hard once more on the other man. "And I'd really like to enjoy those days, you know, without you around-"

"If I had absolutely nothing to do for an entire day-"

"I mean, considering you're here, bothering me, I have to ask, Vince," he began with a frown. "Do you?"

"-I find something to do!"

"No, yell louder in my baby's ear." Holding his hands back up, Paul said, "And if you just came here because spending time with me is the thing you found to do, forget it. I'm busy."

"You're not busy."

"This," he complained, hands falling when not only did Vince not move to hand him back his daughter, but the stupid turncoat didn't even reach back for him, "is busy. Or it was, anyways. And not that this isn't fun or anything, but why exactly are you here?"

"For my daughter, actually," he admitted, bouncing the baby a bit in his arms. "But when I heard you were back here, being a sack of shit-"

"Is that how you phrased it to my lawn guy? 'Hey, is my sack of shit son-in-law around?'"

"And if I did?"

For a moment, the pair only stared at one another. Then Paul broke, grinning widely, while Vince only looked back down at the child in his arms, tickling her stomach a bit with his free hand.

It was during this silence, however, that they heard across the large yard the sound of the backdoor door opening and, both glancing over, they watched as Steph came out. She stopped though, almost immediately, there on the deck, when she realized just who it was that was over there with her husband.

Vince smiled though, in that kinda cringy way, but Paul only settled back into his chair, looking away. One knew what was coming and the other didn't, but with the two of them, that was pretty typical for most their interactions. Vince and Paul both knew a lot about a lot of things, but the overlapping on most of them was minimal.

"It's why we work so well together," Vince would tell him a lot, when he was in a good mood and usually, actually, when they weren't getting along just because of that reason and he was only happy because he was getting his way.

Neither knew how much this would come into play in the future, when working together took a far more serious tone, but at the moment, Paul had much more important things to worry about.

Like poor Rora, who was about to be subjected to pitiful McMahon drama.

Bleh.

If she was in his lap, he'd have tossed his hands over her little tiny ears.

"Stephanie," Vince greeted in that barking way that he always said her name. Almost like he was chopping it. But peppy nonetheless. "I was about to go looking for you."

Her grandfather mattering little now that her mother was near, Paul listened with his ear that wasn't being blasted by Pantara to his daughter whine for the woman as well as attempt to wiggle right out of the man's arms.

This request was granted by her mother when she was close enough, but Stephanie's eyes were on her father just long enough to pluck her daughter from his arms. Then, without speaking to him, she addressed her husband.

"It's time for her lunch," was all she said and he hardly glanced over. "Paul."

"Well, after that, do you have time to talk about- Stephanie, are you just walking away from me?" Vince let out a bit of a huff as she did just that, Aurora staring over the woman's shoulder at the two men, but not reaching back for either.

"What crawled up her damn ass?" the older man asked loudly, before Stephanie was even back to the house yet. Paul, never one to take sides (and if he was, he was on his wife's, duh), only shrugged his shoulders.

"Dunno," he said slowly as the man glared after his daughter. "You do something to her?"

"No! I haven't even spoken to her today. And she was fine yesterday."

"You spoke to her yesterday?"

"Why the hell would I?"

"Okay, well, did you need something serious?" Paul glanced at the man before back at his toes and then the pool. The water looked quite inviting. Especially if he was under it, away from Vince. "That I could help you with? 'cause if not, I think you and Steph are on the outs, so you better go somewhere-"

"I don't know what's wrong with her. Linda's been the same all day too."

Paul blinked before asking slowly, "What did you do to Linda?"

"Hell if I know. I haven't even been home in five days, much less spoken to her."

It was a slow nod, that Paul made then, as he considered his options. He wasn't getting rid of Vince now, so he might as well try to get to the heart of the issue as quickly as possible.

"You haven't even spoken to her...at work? Or something? Do you usually? How often do you nromally go back...home?"

"What difference does that make?"

That time a slow breath. "I just think, maybe, Linda's a bit pissy at you about, you know, ignoring her."

"I'm not ignoring her."

"Haven't you been married for… I mean, have you been married as long as I've been alive? How old are you, exactly, Vince?"

"Shut up, you sack of shit." Without Aurora now, Vince unfortunately didn't head on out of the yard. Instead, he went to take a seat in the lounge chair beside the man. "Stupid sack of shit."

There was a grin though, playing at Paul's lips, as he said, "Steph's probably mad at you because Linda's mad at you."

"Oh yeah? Then explain why Shane's pissed at me too."

"I mean...is that not you guys usual shtick?"

"Give them the world and your family'll bitch it wasn't Mars."

Paul's smile grew, though it wasn't for Vince and rather Stephanie, who was coming back out with Aurora in one arm and a plate in the other.

"Here." Still, she didn't speak to her father. Instead, first, she came to drop Aurora in her father's lap once more, gripping her bottle in her tiny hands before handing the plate to her husband. On it was a sandwich that Aurora was eyeing heavily and Paul knew he was meat to share. Or at least, he was going to be forced to. "Paul."

"Thanks, baby," he replied with a grin as Vince only sat there, frowning heavily over at his daughter. "Say thanks, Rora."

She was too busy dropping her bottle and reaching for the plate he was holding above her head then for that.

"I'll be in-" she started, but no way was Vince letting her get away with so blatantly ignoring him.

"I don't know what your mother told you, Stephanie or...Shane, if he's the one that's got you all- Don't walk away. I didn't do anything to you, Stephanie. And I'm not going to go groveling for your attention. I'll just sit out here with Paul and have a great time."

"Steph, come back." Paul wasn't finding this all so funny anymore. "Talk to your father. Work this out. Stephie-"

"That's the way daughters are! Completely worthless!"

Making a face as Vince leaned over, just so that he could snatch Aurora from him, Paul tossed the bottle over there as well before grumbling, "Then why are you stealing mine?"

Still glaring after his now to the house daughter, Vince wasn't nearly as cuddly for Aurora, but she made due, mostly because she was busy with her bottle.

"She's not my daughter," the older man finally grumbled. "She's my granddaughter. And those are far more grateful if you raise them right."

"Pretty sure the same thing can be said about daughters."

"Cannot! Sons, you expect it. But your own daughter?"

"I...have nothing to say to that. Why-"

"Sons just want you gone. From the very beginning. To steal your wealth and fame and everything else you own."

"Again, feels like a raising thing here, but-"

"But your daughter," Vince went on as Aurora titled her head back to stare up at the man, watching him speak. "You expect her to love you forever. She does a lot longer than your son, anyways. But nope. The second they get interested in men, they start to try and undercut you too."

"Not my baby." Sandwich in one hand, Paul waved with the other one over at her daughter, just to get her attention. "You just raise shitty kids."

Vince snorted then, shaking his head at the man. "You've had a kid for what? A month or two?"

"I mean, it's only her first birthday in a few weeks, but sure, Vince."

"Tell me about being a father. What do you know? Huh?" He shook his head once more. "You just wait; it's coming."

"Is not. Whatever it is."

"She'll ditch you so fast. They all do."

"You have one daughter. What basis are you forming this 'all' business on?"

"All the girls I made leave their fathers."

"Oh, gross." Paul about spit out his sandwich. "I thought they still had arranged marriages back then anyways?"

"Shut up. Sack of shit."

"Alright, alright, enough. 'fore poor Rora's first word gets her popped in the mouth," the man finally condemned. "You think Steph hates you now-"

"Didn't even do anything to her." And Vince was back to that. "Ever. Who do I take care of more than anybody?"

"Yourself."

"My daughter. Always have."

"I've been with Steph awhile now, I gotta say, and it exceeds the amount of fingers I have the times you, personally, have made her stay up all night crying, so-"

"What do you know?"

"About my wife?"

"About anything. To try and tell me. You're just like Shane."

"In that I know a lot about Steph? More than you?"

"Married, what? A year?"

"Now I'm concerned you're in the middle of a stroke and would like you to hand over my daughter, please, and go get some medical assistance. Elsewhere. Preferably. Because as piqued as your daughter is, I don't think she's letting me call an ambulance for ya."

"Think you know more about anything than me. Are you crazy?"

"Are you?" Frowning over at his father-in-law, Paul said, "I do this funny thing called calling my wife when we're away from one another."

"When do you even get a chance to be? You got my daughter's head stuck so far up your ass-"

"Why Vince, I didn't realize you were so interested in our bedroom activities."

"See how much fun and nice it is to keep up with this one once that happens."

"And now you've made me feel gross. Give me my kid back."

"She'll ditch you too. Especially coming up with all this money. Worst thing I ever did."

"What?"

"Become successful and leave poor Steph susceptible to the likes of you," Vince explained as, finished with her bottle and more than ready to try and steal some of that pesky sandwich, Aurora tossed her bottle to the ground. "The more money, the more creeps you get."

"Is that what made you creepy, Vince? The money?"

that time Paul got the old man, it seemed, as he made an odd noise, as if stifling a laugh. "Sack of shit."

"I warned you about that."

Vince, not realizing why it was his granddaughter was suddenly so wiggly, only used the hand not holding her to his lap to fish the keys out of his pocket. Then, eyes still on the girl's father, he started shaking them in her face, which was more than enough to garnish the attention of the nearly one-year-old.

"All after your daughter. And worst of all, your money." Vince snorted then. "The two most important things."

"Weird. I always thought sons were the most important."

"Not when you got a reason for them to assassinate you."

"Come again?"

"Kings! Kings always wanted sons. Then what did the oldest son do?"

"I'm more confused as to how this relates to you."

"Beheads them. Overthrows them."

"Do you have numbers to back this up? Or are these the ramblings of a mad man?"

"I watched you do it to my daughter!"

"I meant the king thing, Vince. Not the men sniffing around to fuck your daughter and use her for her wealth." Then Paul hummed. "Or improve their standings in a company, in an effort to become even more of a king."

Vince stopped shaking the keys, but they were out of the baby's reach anyways. Not that she stopped trying to snatch them though.

"You laugh-"

"Who's laughing?"

"-but it won't be too funny when you lose your daughter to a grease ball that's spent the as six months on his ass, doing nothing."

"Recovering from a horrific injury is nothing now. Wow." Paul whistled. "You really can't please your in-laws."

"What do you call what you're doing right now?"

"Could ask you the same thing." But the man's eyes were away from his father-in-law then as, apparently, his whistle got his big dog Bluto to give up on bothering the lawn care guys and come into the backyard to check on just what his master wanted.

Nothing, but then Paul rarely felt like the dog's master anyways. More just the husband of his master.

Mistress?

He would have asked Vince, but that wasn't exactly the best term to be so inquisitive about when it came to the man.

Plus, there were things he just didn't want to know…

"I," Vince grumbled as Bluto came to stand by his father's lounge chair and attempt to get that sandwich Aurora was forgetting she wanted, "am here for my daughter, I said."

"Something to do with work? Because you might just tell her that and maybe she'll entertain the idea of speaking with you."

"Shouldn't have to be like that. I'm her boss! First and foremost."

"I've only been a father for, what? A month or two now?"

"Sack of shit don't even know your birthday, Aurora." Vince patted her tummy, which only got him some gibberish sputtered back at him. "But thinks he's a better father than me."

"But maybe," the other man went on, "the whole boss first thing kinda is a bad policy to instill."

"You tell me about my life when you live it."

"Same to you."

They both stared at one another then, straight in the eyes, but it was still a bit ruined because in their peripherals, they could definitely see that Vince was shaking keys in Aurora's face once more and Bluto was getting his head patted as it rested in his father's lap.

"Won't ever live as a sack of shit."

"Now you're annoying me." Shoving up, Paul got to his feet, leaving his music player behind. "You want Steph? I'll get you Steph."

"You better. All you're good for."

Paul grabbed Aurora's bottle though, returning it to her as he said, "And try not to let my kid swallow those keys or some of that other weird stuff that always ends up on the news."

"Maybe that's what I'll just have to get you for your birthday, Aurora," Vince was still shaking them in her face though, with her bottle returned, the girl was finding she was much more interested in that (considering Bluto, with his father leaving his sandwich behind, was already chowing down on that, she figured the bottle would be her best bet). "A car. So that you can have your own eyes to play with."

"Yeah, because that method isn't at all the cause of your current situation with your children," Paul grumbled as he turned to walk away. "And don't buy my kid a car."

"I'll buy her one if I want to." Turning his head down to stare at his granddaughter, Vince smiled down at her. "I'll buy you five. One in each of your favorite color's."

"She doesn't even know what colors are yet, Vince," Paul grumbled over his shoulder as he stomped off to the house to find his wife.

"What do you know?"

"We're not doing that again."

Inside, Paul found his wife in her home office, typing away at her computer, not even looking up as he came into the room.

"Stephie-"

"I'm busy."

"With work?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Great. 'cause your father is here, downstairs, and wants you to- You're not busy! You're shopping!"

"It's so rude to come behind someone's desk, Paul. So rude."

"Stop it."

"I'm shopping for your birthday."

"I don't want women's boots, Steph."

"You want me to be happy." She turned her eyes up to look at him. "Is that not gift enough?"

"I told you what I want."

"That isn't on the pre-pproved list."

"You can't pre-approved someone's birthday gift."

"I can when you just list nasty sex stuff year after year. These are the consequences."

"It's what I want."

"Paul-"

"I actually," he interrupted as he rested his hands on her shoulders, "came here about something else."

She tried to shrug his hands off, but he wouldn't allow her to. "I don't want to talk to him."

"Stephie-"

"Do you know what he did to-"

"No. I don't. And I don't care."

"Hey-"

"I," he said as she glared up at him then, "do know that my free day is being ruined by some forced father-in-law boding that I did not ask for. And he took Rora from me, which is just dickish, I feel."

"Is that what you feel?"

"Mmmhmm." Nodding his head, the man added, "And if you don't talk to him, I think he said something about filling our garage with cars to fil the void."

"What?"

"You should really be nicer to him. You know that you'll always forgive him eventually anyways."

"Do you know what he did to-"

"Your mom, yeah, whatever. When aren't they tense with one another?"

"What?" Steph's eyes clouded then. "What did he do to Mom?"

And Paul almost bit his tongue. "Uh… You know, maybe don't talk to Linda for a day or two, huh? Or hey, I know, let's forget that I interrupted you like that. Like an asshole. What were you going to say?"

Her glare was a bit more real then as, head tilted back to stare up at him, she said, "I was going to say he was very rude at the office yesterday to- Well, you don't know her, but-"

"I know I like Vince better than her," he said with a sharp nod of his head. "And I like you and Vince making up and talking about whatever it is that he wanted from you so that you can come join me and Rora and Bluto out at the pool, without your father, and we can have a grand ol' time."

"I really don't have anything to say to him. If it's about work, tell him to either leave me a message on my voice mail or-"

"Stephanie."

"I shouldn't always be the one to just put up with all his stupid idiosyncrasies. Does he ever return the favor?"

"I mean, he still seems pretty bitter about, you know, you growing up and I don't think anyone ever has to hear about it, but me, so there's that. He doesn't drown you in his hatred for the fact that your husband fucks you good."

"You're so gross."

"It's what the list is meant for."

"You're- Hey!"

He'd moved to reach around her and use her computer's mouse to exit out of the its current website.

"You're coming out here to talk to your father."

"No, I'm not."

"Steph, he's killing me out there."

"Tell hi to leave."

"Yeah, let me go tell my father-in-law to leave." He made a face as she moved to go back to her computer. "No you don't."

"Paul," she complained as he tried to grab at her hands and hold them above her head, away from that dreaded keyboard. "Stop. I don't-"

"I've made just about all the snide comments I can make to the guy without getting fired. We're steps away from me losing my job and our cushy lifestyle, Steph."

"Aw. You really think that our lifestyle depends that much on you?"

"Steph-"

"I don't want to talk to him." But she was finally getting out of her chair. "Especially know that I know that he and Mom are- What is wrong with him and Mom? Anyways?"

"Na-ah, Stephie. You wanna know, go ask your father."

"You're a horrible husband."

Nodding, he replied, "Vince told me you'd say this."

"Did he?"

"Wife, children; all horrible. Especially daughters."

"I'm sorry, I thought you were wanting me to make up with my father?"

"I just want you to get him out of my hair. I don't give a fuck if you two make up or not." Still, he grinned widely at her as she made her way to the door. "I also want to keep my baby. You can have the dog though."

"Shut up, Paul."

Since she was already doing what he wanted, it would be foolish to not just listen.

Vince was still outside, of course, but was now laying back in the chair, Aurora seated in his lap while sucking on her bottle. Both she and her grandfather watched silently as her parents approached.

"Up you go," Paul muttered as he only snatched his daughter from the man's lap. "Silly."

She threw here bottle again, that time it rolling off, and Paul didn't feel much like getting it. Only going back over to the chair and sitting down again.

"What happened to my- Bluto!"

But the dog was long gone and had no plans of returning to the backyard. Not when there were so many non punishment related things to do in the front.

"What did you want?" Stephanie was asking her father as Aurora giggled from the sound of her grumbling own. "Dad? And it better have to do with work."

Vince ha taken to glaring at Paul who was glaring around for his mutt, but sat up a bit to answer Stephanie.

"How come you brought Paul a sandwich and not me?"

For a moment, she only glared back at the man before looking at her husband and shrugging. "I tried."

"Steph," Paul groaned as she turned to walk off. To Vince, he only said, "Tell Steph that you're sorry for being an asshole at work yesterday."

"I wasn't an asshole to you," was the closest they were getting on that front. "Stephanie."

"I didn't," she complained, back turned to him, "say that you were."

"Grow up! How do you expect to work in a professional setting if you're mad that someone was an asshole to you?"

"I just said that I never said-"

"So you were an asshole." Paul nodded his head then, giving up on Bluto. "Vince."

"Shut up. Sack of shit."

"And who told you two that you could curse that much in front of her?" Suddenly, Steph was turning back to them, but it was just to go try and take her daughter. "Seriously?"

Her husband wasn't giving her up so easily though. Holding tightly to his daughter, he griped, "Aurora's very mature for her age."

"Paul-"

"When she can master saying one work, just a single one, then I'll worry about my language."

"You'll worry about what I tell you to worry about."

"Message received." He even held the baby out to Stephanie then. "Loud and clear."

But she only gave him a long look before, leaving Aurora with him, she looked back at her father.

"If you have something about work to tell me," she said as the man got back to his feet once more. "Then-"

"I wanna know what I did to make my own daughter ostracize me in her home. What could I have possibly-"

"You know what you did."

"So I've been ignoring your mother's calls! Who cares? If it's about work, she can leave a message."

"That what I said about you and you turn up at my house- And why aren't you talking to-"

"I'm different. I deserve to be heard."

"And Mom doesn't? Oh, and by the way, I didn't even know about that, so thanks for that information."

"Then what the hell are you so upset about-"

"Shane said that you-"

"Why won't Shane just get off my case-"

"Why don't you get off his?"

"Poor you, Rora," Paul tsked as he was messing, once more, with his mp3 player. "You actually have to listen to this garbage."

It happened at least once a year. The big family blow out. Usually happened in the fall, just in time for Vince to ruin Steph's birthday or she and Paul's anniversary. Maybe Thanksgiving. He was kinda partial to annoying Halloween antics.

Of course, Paul was certain he only saw this as all Vince's doing given that he was, well, doing a different McMahon. The best one. His one. And it would just be idiotic to see something from anyone's point of view other than Steph's.

It wouldn't last long. Linda was usually the first to forgive Vince or Shane was the first to stop being so pissed at his sister, which would allow the more emotional of the family, Vince and Steph, to slowly fall back in with whoever it was they were mad at.

Normally each other.

There was a time when Paul might foolishly either try and sway Steph into forgiveness or stick up for her, with her brother or father.

One time.

There was one time.

Now, he just knew to let things run its course.

If fucking Vince hadn't shown up at their house, ruining one of his final free days with Aurora, Paul wouldn't have even really known anything was going on. Especially with him rehabbing at the moment.

"Oh, just sit up here in your ivory castle and judge, Stephanie."

"I'm not judging you. There's nothing to judge you over! You're just flat out wrong. How could you not call Mom-"

"If you didn't even know about it, then why-"

"Because now I do!"

"What is wrong with this thing," Paul grumbled to his daughter as, for some reason, he couldn't get his music player to turn on. "Don't tell me it needs to be reset."

She wasn't telling him anything. She was far too busy staring up at her grandfather and mother, listening to their harsh tones and wondering if she should start crying soon. It was a rather easy go to.

"Hey, do either of you have, like, a tiny pin or something?" Paul had no quells about interrupting a McMahon argument when he had something so serious going on.

What was a day by the pool without music?

"II need to poke this hole on my player here, I think," he said, looking up at them as well then, "to reset-"

"You always do this, Vince. You always come over here, all sorry-"

"I'm not sorry! I didn't do anything to any of you. You're all constantly trying to get me to just cave to whatever stupid demands-"

"It's not a demand to ask you not to act like an asshole."

"You said it had nothing to do with me being an asshole!"

"That doesn't mean that it doesn't now."

"What?"

"So they can say asshole," Paul grumbled as, giving up on his music player, he moved to nuzzle his head against his daughter's, "but when Daddy says it, he gets in trouble."

But Paul's grumble, in jest or not, was finally too much for his duaghter to take and, with a big wail, her cries began.

"Look what you did, Dad."

"I didn't do anything!"

Before Paul had a chance to calm down his daughter, she was being taken from him once more, that time by her mother.

"Why do you just go? And leave me a message since, you know, that's good enough for your wife, which means it's certainly good enough for you."

"I'm not leaving when she's all upset," Vince carped as, coming closer to Steph, he only produced something from his pocket. "Here."

It would have been a funny scene to Paul, was he not so worried (you know, about where he was gonna find a pin to fix his mp3 player), seeing Vince and Stephanie standing there, both clearly peeved at one another, one bouncing a baby in her arms while the other jingled keys in front of the child's face.

Okay, so it was still a bit funny, his precious music be damned, but Paul only sat there with a straight face, watching silently, waiting to see just what happened.

Considering nothing terrible had truly been wrong with her, it was rather easy to distract Aurora from her tears with some jangling keys. And, that time, when she reached for them, Vince gave the key ring up, allowing her to begin gleefully shaking them around for herself, grinning like mad up at her mother, pleased with her new toy.

Relief came over both Stephanie and Vince then, the pair smiling at one another in a brief reprieve from their argument.

"See there? This kid wants a car." Vince reached out to rub the back of a finger against his granddaughter's cheek. "Don't you think? What I was telling sack of- Paul. What I was telling Paul, over here."

Rolling her eyes, Stephanie only remarked, "You've never even bought me a car."

"I have so! Your first one."

"You made me pay half. And then work off the other half."

"That's instilling ethic. And hey! You never finished that paying back stuff."

"That's what I call even, considering you can't even call my mother back-"

"I can." He stopped messing with Aurora then to stare at her. "I just won't."

And that brought a swift end to their joining of forces as Steph only informed him that he was welcome to call or text her with work related things before going to drop Aurora off in her father's lap once more and head back inside.

For a moment or two, Vince only stood there, silent, watching his daughter disappear before turning to watch his granddaughter.

"Your wife," the older man grumbled as, none too gracefully, Aurora threw the keys away from her with a giggle, "is impossible."

"Maybe it's just you," Paul suggested.

Snorting at the comment, Vince bent over to get his keys. "Hardly."

"You want some parenting advice? Vince?" Paul nodded down at Aurora. "I mean, from my masterful expertise with this one, I could see why. I know you're too prideful to ask, but-"

"Shut up. Sack of shit."

"I'm almost becoming fond of that, you know."

Instead of leaving for some reason, however, Vince just went to go reclaim his chair, no longer staring over at Paul, but the pool.

"You think it's funny, don't you? Ever time Stephanie gets upset with me?"

"I mean, you think it's funny when it happens to me." Then Paul paused. "Which, I might add, never happens anyways, so-"

"It's not much fun."

"Getting bitched at by her? Not that I would know, but yes, I'd concur."

"Working with your family." Vince shook his head. "Downright shit, for the most part."

"Yeah, well, I'll never know," Paul said as, reaching over the side of his chair, he grabbed one of Aurora's toys from the small pile of them, to keep her from whining for some more keys. If they weren't careful, Vince might get too down on himself and get her and Shane's kid one before the week was up.

The horror.

"Is this where you chime in with one of your stupid jokes? About stealing my baby from me?"

"Ah, already beat you to that. Or did you not notice this nice little ring on my finger, here?"

"You-"

"I won't work with Aurora, Vince, because when I swindle you, Steph, Shane, and Linda out of your little company," Paul began staring over at the man who wouldn't look at him, "I'm selling it to the highest bidder. The metaphoric shitting on your grave I'll take before, once you die, doing the real thing."

Vince didn't look over at him, but did say, "I'm being buried in a mausoleum. Alone. Without Linda or the kids."

"Just as good. I'll have my kids egg it every Halloween."

"That's a rude thing to say, in front of poor Aurora. You know, who wouldn't be here without me."

"Here in spite of you, is more like it."

"I'm….not sure what that means, but-"

"And I'm the one that got her to stop crying, by the way."

"Well, flashy things always has been the downfall of you McMahons."

"I ever tell you how much I dislike you?"

Nodding a bit, Paul said, "Keeps me up at night."

"Good."

"Say bye-bye to whatever stupid thing it is your mommy wants you to call Vince." Paul made his daughter daughter wave her free hand at the man as, finally, he got to his feet to leave. "Rora."

"Let your wife know I expect her to be over whatever's crawled up her ass by tomorrow."

"I make no promises," Paul assured him with a bit of a shrug. "Good husbands don't force their wives to do anything. You know, if you'd like advice on marriage-"

"Fuck you. Sack of shit."

"Bye-bye, Pop." Paul made Aurora wave her hand again, the girl staring up at him in interest. "It'd be great if you'd call, you know, next time you stop by. So we can make sure we're not home."

Aurora wasn't too broken up by her grandfather leaving. Especially when, after ten minutes, they were joined once more by her mother.

"Thank you. I didn't think you noticed that your filthy beast of a dog stole my food, but-"

"This isn't for you." Steph made a face as she handed her husband the tiny bowl of cutup fruit. "It's for Aurora. The rest of her lunch."

"Aurora allergic to fruit."

"She is not."

He knew. Steph made him listen to her go on and on about children and allergies and how you slowly introduce food and all this shit that he was nearly certain neither of their parents had done for them.

Still, the way she explained it all made tons of sense.

It was just annoying.

Actually, that summed up a lot of parental things as he was finding out.

"She is when I want what she's eating. And you're gonna make her fat, Steph."

"With fruit?"

"Fruit's sweet."

"You're the one that's looking a bit heavy, babe."

He eyed her for a minute, weighing just how joking of a mood she was in before deciding not one at all and letting that slide without a rebuttal.

"I did bring you this though," Steph went on as Aurora seemed very pleased with her bowl of fruit. Mostly just squeezing the slices and cubes in her tiny palms before licking at the juice, but hey, who was he to tell her how to enjoy her own dang lunch. "Babe."

Paul smirked at Steph, when she presented him with a safety pin.

"You're the best, Steph."

"Uh-huh."

As he went to work on resetting his mp3 player and Aurora went to town on the rest of her lunch, Stephanie only went on a hunt for just where the little girl's bottle had gotten off to as well as all the toys he'd tossed on the ground, only for them to skid around.

Bluto came back as Steph was finishing, content for some reason in Paul not punishing him. Which the man didn't. He was too busy flipping through is music for that. The mutt only came to try and lick at the by then sticky Aurora, but Paul shoved him away and, dejected, he went over to where his mother had now claimed her father's seat.

"Why did you put on trunks, Paul, if you're just going to sit out here?"

"Look at me, babe."

"Constantly."

"I gotta get some sun."

"Uh-huh."

"Rora's about had enough though. Now that she's eaten-"

"I'll put her down in a minute."

For that one though, they just had some silence, save Bluto's huff as he rolled onto his side, between the two lounge chairs.

"You gotta make up with your father tomorrow, Steph."

"Why?"

"He's so pathetic when you two are fighting. And he can't ruin my day tomorrow too."

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

"You, obviously."

"Paul-"

"You owe me."

Steph made a face over at him. "For what?"

"Putting up with-"

"You enjoy being around him."

Then he paused a bit before, with a shrug, saying, "So do you."

"Only sometimes."

"Only most the time."

"Shut up."

Smiling down at his daughter when she shifted wrong and pulled the earbud he had in out, Paul said, "Me and my kids will never fight like you guys. And my daughter's never leaving me for no two-bit wash up."

"Two-bit?"

"Why are you questing me being two bit and not a wash up? Huh?"

"You can and could be as washed up as you want or wanted." She was shoving up then to go take Aurora, finally, to bring her in for her nap, leaving him truly alone then. "If you had no money, this was never happening."

"Aw. You really think it's my money that has to do with our marriage?"

"If you're gonna mock me, at least do better at mimicking my voice."

"That's exactly how you sound."

"It is not."

"I should know. Who has to hear you talk more than me?"

Bluto went with the girls, but he always did, leaving Paul out there alone with his music, like he'd wanted, really.

Which made it very odd when, after about five minutes, he jumped up to head inside as well.

"I thought," Steph whispered as he joined her in the bedroom, where both she and the only slightly sleepy Aurora were just settling out "you were getting sun? Paul?"

"Look at me."

"Eventually I'm going to hurt your feelings and refuse."

"I'm the embodiment of the perfect tan."

"Sure."

Sliding into bed in his trunks, he whispered, "I wanna nap too."

"On your free day?"

"On my free day."

"You sure like being around us enough," she yawned as he pressed a kiss to Aurora's head, getting a whine out of the girl as she shoved at his face. "Daddy."

"I like sleep." Leaning over Aurora, he waited for Steph to lean up and press a kiss to his cheek before whispering. "I love you."

"You're cute."

"Thanks. I get that way when I've used all my good, hurtful material up for the day."

"He didn't bother you that much, did he?"

Grinning as he settled out on his back, the man replied, "Nah. He's just like Bluto or Aurora; I knew he required attention before I got invested."

"I'm not dealing with him tomorrow. Outside of work. So you both can just forget that."

"Mmmmm."

It would be a long week. And hopefully just that. But of all the prices he had to pay to be with Stephanie, the yearly McMahon battle hardly felt like one at all.

So long as his mp3 player didn't need to be reset too often...

And honestly, he felt far more content there, resting with the two of them, than he had been in that stinking lounge chair.

* * *

 **I got an old request to do Paul dealing with his kids dating and I didn't really wanna write that (feels awkward, really), so I figured I'd just do one where it was more mentioned than highlighted on, by Vince explaining to Paul how shitty it is That still felt odd, so I figured I'd just do Vince explaining why kids are shit in general. So this is the closest to that request I'll get to filling.**

 **To anyone who's sent some new ones, asking if I still take them, I do. Just a bit slow on them is all.**


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